Iranian media funds death fatwa against Salman Rushdie

by Michael Nugent on February 26, 2016

Jane Donnelly and I are among the signatories to this letter, published in the Guardian today. Please lobby your national politicians to condemn this escalation of the death fatwa against Salman Rushdie.

We are outraged to learn that 40 state-run media outlets in Iran have raised $600,000 (£420,000) to add as bounty to Ayatollah Khomeini’s death fatwa on the writer Salman Rushdie because of his novel The Satanic Verses. We condemn the Iranian regime, its fatwa and the added bounty. We stand with Rushdie and the many Iranian freethinkers and writers languishing in prison, or facing the death penalty, for exercising their right to free expression and thought.

The Iranian regime must face global condemnation for its incitement to murder. Democratic and secular governments should unequivocally condemn the regime’s fatwa and bounty, demand their immediate cancellation, prioritise human rights and free expression, and side with freethinkers rather than appeasing a theocratic regime.

The same bearded troglodytes who put a price on a writer’s head will insist that they are following “The” Religion of Peace. They will probably even believe they do. Isn’t cognitive dissonance fascinating?

Up till the Rushdie affair I think most of us – at least in the UK – saw religion as ‘someone else’s problem’. The fatwa showed that religious insanity elsewhere could effect our lives here, both in that religiously inspired violence could return to Europe, and in that a significant number of artists, critics and politicians would be craven enough to defend it.

As it’s a UK citizen they’re trying to have murdered, I imagine my government will be pulling out all the stops to let Iran know that this won’t be tolerated. Problem is both Google and Yahoo seem to be broken when I search for the info on this. Anyone got any links?